Prediction of flexural behaviour of RC beams strengthened with ultra high performance fiber reinforced concrete

This paper predicts the flexural behaviour of reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened with a precast strip of ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC). In the first phase, ultimate load capacity of preloaded and strengthened RC beams by UHPFRC was predicted by using various analytical models available in the literature. RC beams were preloaded under static loading approximately to 70%, 80% and 90% of ultimate load of control beams. The models such as modified Kaar and sectional analysis predicted the ultimate load in close agreement to the corresponding experimental observations. In the second phase, the famous fatigue life models such as Papakonstantinou model and Ferrier model were employed to predict the number of cycles to failure and the corresponding deflection. The models were used to predict the life of the (i) strengthened RC beams after subjecting them to different pre-loadings (70%, 80% and 90% of ultimate load) under static loading and (ii) strengthened RC beams after subjecting them to different preloading cycles under fatigue loading. In both the cases precast UHPFRC strip of 10 mm thickness is attached on the tension face. It is found that both the models predicted the number of cycles to failure and the corresponding deflection very close to the experimental values. It can be concluded that the models are found to be robust and reliable for cement based strengthening systems also. Further, the Wang model which is based on Palmgren-Miner's rule is employed to predict the no. of cycles to failure and it is found that the predicted values are in very good agreement with the corresponding experimental observations.